The Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM) recently became the first health institution in Canada to use an innovative and powerful alternative to traditional surgery to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Unveiled to the media this morning, American Medical Systems' GreenLight XPS TM is a new generation of laser therapy technology to treat BPH, the most common prostate problem in men over 50, affecting over half of them. By age 80, 80% of men are affected. It is a pathology in which aging prostate tissue enlarges, causing numerous problems. The enlarged prostate presses against the urethra and blocks the passage of urine from the bladder, preventing it from emptying completely. The typical symptoms of BPH include an urgent need to urinate, frequent urination, particularly at night, and a feeling that the bladder never completely empties.

GreenLight XPS TM laser therapy considerably reduces the risks and complications associated with traditional surgery for BPH. Its main advantages are that is a minimally invasive surgery, which, in most cases, can be performed as an outpatient procedure, and it greatly reduces the risk of haemorrhage and other complications. Patients also recover much more quickly then after traditional surgery. Over 500,000 men around the world have been treated with GreenLight TM laser therapy.

"With this technology, the CHUM can now provide this type of prostate surgery to older men, those on anticoagulant therapy, and others who suffer from multiple comorbidities-all patients who would never have been able to benefit otherwise," states Dr. Kevin Zorn, CHUM urologist and professor of surgery at the Université de Montréal's faculty of medicine.

Other types of laser technologies can also cure BPH, but the GreenLight XPS TM uses a very precisely directed beam of high-powered laser energy to vaporize enlarged prostate tissue, which results in an open channel for urine to flow through and a rapid return to normal.

"Finally, I can lead a normal life again, without pain or discomfort, and I sleep better as well," adds Mr. Said Sbeiti, the patient who benefited from this surgery for the first time in Canada.

The CHUM's acquisition of the GreenLight XPS TM laser system was made possible through a financial contribution by the Fondation du CHUM and the urology service of the CHUM.

Source:
Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM)